One of the most distinctive habits of Catholic thought is its refusal to resolve complex moral questions by choosing one pole of a tension and rejecting the other.
Instead, Catholic theology has repeatedly insisted that truth often lies not in eliminating contradictions but in holding opposites together in a higher unity.
This instinct finds classical expression in coincidentia oppositorum, a term articulated by Nicholas of Cusa in the fifteenth century, but rooted more deeply in patristic theology and ultimately in what Christians believe about the mystery of the incarnation: Christ is both fully God (100 percent) and fully man (100 percent), without confusion or division.
The Christological tension, though seemingly “in the theological weeds,” is a foundational "rubber band." People argued about it, early in the development of the church, for hundreds of years.
Lots of non-Christians might argue “he was a good man, a teacher or a philosopher.” Many would find it scandalous or absurd that he could be “God in human form.” Absurd and scandalous, indeed.
And the source of continual theological dispute for centuries. So ignore the "inside baseball" nature of such debates. If you want insight into Catholic teaching on a host of social issues, coincidentia oppositorum illuminates the principles.
And they are neither simple nor absolute guides to behavior.
"Heresy," or incorrect belief, is "inside baseball" for anybody who does not claim to be a Christian.
On the other hand, as a guide to thinking about hard problems in life, coincidentia oppositorum is invaluable.
Catholic theologians might point out that heresy (from the Greek hairesis, meaning "choice") occurs when someone tries to resolve the tension by "choosing" one side. A "Both-And" thinker views a heretic not necessarily as someone who is 100 percent wrong, but as someone who is partially right at the expense of the whole. By releasing one end of the rubber band, they lose the tension of the divine mystery.
The practical result is that the answer to many questions is essentially “it’s a mystery.” But the answer to many practical questions also involves maintaining a tension between apparent opposites.
Catholic social teaching does not offer a neat ideology, nor does it map cleanly onto modern political categories of “left” and “right.”
Instead, it consistently affirms pairs of principles that appear, at first glance, to be in tension: individual dignity and the common good; private property and universal destination of goods; authority and participation; justice and mercy; life’s inviolability and compassion for human weakness.
The "Both-And" approach isn't just a polite way of avoiding a decision; it is a commitment to paradox.
Think of Catholic theology as a stretched rubber band. If you let go of one side to make things "simpler" or "more logical," the rubber band goes limp and loses its power. The energy, or Catholic assertions about "truth,” exists precisely because of the tension between the two poles.
The result is a body of teaching that frustrates ideological purists but remains remarkably coherent when understood through the lens of coincidentia oppositorum.
Catholic social doctrine does not split the difference between opposites, nor does it oscillate opportunistically between them.
Rather, it insists that each pole is incomplete without the other, and that only by holding both together can society approximate the truth about the human person. So “both-and” rather than “either-or.”
A finite human reason sees contradictions because it cannot fully grasp infinite truth. What appear as opposites at the human level coincide at the divine level: so truth often transcends binary logic without dissolving it.
So see so often encounter apparent opposites:
God is transcendent (beyond or above physical human experience) and yet immanent (present everywhere; internal in things)
Christ is judge and savior
The Cross is simultaneously defeat and victory
The Kingdom is already present and not yet fulfilled
Jesus is 100 percent human and 100 percent God
God is infinitely just and infinitely merciful
Humans are “saved” individually (choice) and yet salvation also is collective (we are different parts of a single body as a metaphor)
Reality is material and spiritual
We exist in time, but occasionally, as at the Mass, the eternal (outside of time) meets those within time
Humans have free will and therefore real agency, but there is also a plan
Human prayers occur within time, but can operate outside of time and place
Catholic social theory supports both the right of private property and the right of unions to operate that restrict unrestricted rights of private property
Work is a commodity exchanged in a market, but also a participation in God’s creative action
The right of private property coexists with an obligation to share benefits (universal destination of goods)
Support for economic initiative and entrepreneurship but also social responsibility and solidarity
Property rights but also the universal destination of goods
Both subsidiarity (protects personal and local freedom) and solidarity (moral responsibility across social boundaries)
Absolute defense of unborn life, the disabled, the elderly, and the terminally ill, as human life possesses inviolable dignity from conception to natural death; yet the need for mercy, accompaniment, and compassion
Moral truth is not negated by compassion, and compassion does not relativize truth
Mercy (punishment is withheld) does not mean denying sin, but justice (you get what you deserve) does not mean abandoning sinners
Affirming the legitimacy of law, borders, and social order, while simultaneously insisting that these structures serve the human person, especially the vulnerable
Social responsibility and personal accountability.
At a polarized time where people seemingly prefer simple answers and absolute alignments, Catholic social teaching remains stubbornly mysterious; a unity of opposites; a refusal to embrace simple “either-or” positions.
It’s a stretched rubber band.
